


Patience

by amoeve



Series: Zutara Month 2015 [12]
Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: F/M, Pai Sho
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-12-24
Updated: 2015-12-24
Packaged: 2018-05-08 19:56:12
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 668
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5510984
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/amoeve/pseuds/amoeve
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In which Iroh, Suki, Sokka and Toph are all waiting for Katara and Zuko to get together... some more patiently than others.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Patience

Iroh hears whispers and rustles drifting up from the bushes near his pai sho table. He strokes his chin, as if deep in thought, and subtly inclines his ears towards the shrubbery.

“Look!” That’s Sokka, he’s sure, and his suspicions are confirmed when he hears a “Get off! Give me back my telescope!”

Way across the water garden, Katara and Zuko are sparring. The crackle of fire hitting ice and calls of challenge rise up into the air (as do the occasional shrieks when someone gets a lucky shot in, and retribution involves dumping someone in a fountain).

“What’s happening?” Toph doesn’t even bother to lower her voice, and Iroh is sure that that’s because she knows he isn’t far away. She’s a sharp one, that young woman.

“They’re still sparring.” Suki isn’t whispering any more, either.

“Ssh!” Sokka practically squeaks.

“They aren’t going to hear us from here,” Toph says, and Iroh hears a small noise of pain, like someone’s been thumped. “Besides, your audio commentary is somewhat lacking. You haven’t actually said anything for them to overhear.”

“Well, they’re not doing anything interesting,” Suki sighs, and Iroh hears a rustle that suggests she’s sitting back on her heels.

A gout of steam goes up, to yells and screams.

“That sounds promising!” Toph exclaims.

“My telescope can’t see through fog,” Sokka pines.

“I still think they’re just bending,” Suki says – and sure enough, Katara barrels out of the fog on a sliding wave of ice, and fireballs follow her up into the sky.

“Missed me!” she calls.

“Dammit,” Toph sighs. “I just want them to bang.”

Iroh smothers a chuckle as he hears Sokka splutter, “Ew! Toph! That’s my baby sister you’re talking about!”

“You had sex with Suki while Katara and I were in the next tent,” Toph snorts. “You get absolutely no weird-vibes sympathy from me.”

“Sorry,” Suki says, but she doesn’t sound bashful. “Though, in my defence, I had just got out of prison.” Iroh sees her head poke out of the bushes, and look around.

He bends over his pai sho game and pretends he’s been completely absorbed all along.

A shadow falls across his table.

“Hey Uncle,” Sokka says, flopping himself down on the bench across from Iroh.

“Good afternoon, my young friends!” Iroh smiles up at them. “Are you enjoying the pleasant weather?” Their replies are less than enthusiastic. Iroh chuckles. “Well, you may be bored… but it’s good for making hay. Our farmers will be happy.”

“I can think of some people who ought to be making hay,” Toph mutters to herself, and then, “Ow!” as Suki nudges her, hard.

Iroh decides it’s time to let them know that they aren’t alone in their keenness for certain happy events to occur. “Ah, but Miss Beifong… the thing about haymaking is that it must happen at the right time. Hay needs several days of sunshine to dry, so it can be stored to feed the animals in the winter. If you pick it too early, the summer rains will ruin this year’s crop, and all your work will be for nothing.”

Suki looks thoughtful. “So… certain things need to have the right conditions to… grow?”

 _She’s a bright one_ , Iroh thinks. “Yes! You’re almost as good at proverbs as I am!” he chuckles.

“Well, we should leave you to your game,” Toph smiles at him. “And maybe you could teach us pai sho one day.”

“I don't get what this has to do with Zuko and – ” Sokka starts, and then yelps as, Iroh suspects, two young women thump him.

Iroh chuckles to himself as he picks up the White Lotus tile. They’re young; they’ll learn that these things take their own time.

The sounds of Zuko and Katara’s duel continue to ripple across the garden. They are, as in everything, very well-matched.

Iroh watches the ice and fire, water and lightning and steam, and weighs the White Lotus tile in his hand. A delaying action?

Yes. They’ve only time to lose.

**Author's Note:**

> “We’ve only time to lose” is a line from one of the greatest cheery love songs of all time, Patrick Wolf’s _Get Lost_.


End file.
